Travelers Face a Nightmare

Storm Cripples Subways, Flights and Rail; Repairs Could Take Days or Longer

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A police officer crosses over tape at a closed subway station in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday. There is no timetable for reopening city's subways
European Pressphoto Agency

By

Jack Nicas

Updated Oct. 30, 2012 4:41 p.m. ET

Sandy struck the most populous transportation corridor in the U.S. and left in its wake a temporarily hobbled system of flooded subways, grounded flights, canceled trains and tree-strewn roads.

In New York City, more than five million subway riders faced the prospect of competing for seats on 5,600 buses, after floodwaters swamped subway tunnels and electrical shortages hampered repair crews.

"The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating," said Joseph J. Lohta, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

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Flooded tracks at Metro-North's Harmon Yard north of New York City
MTA/Reuters

Getting in and out of New York was no easier. The runways at LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International were flooded, and Newark Liberty International airport was without commercial power. Commuter trains, which ferry hundreds of thousands of people a day, remained out of service. Bridges connecting Manhattan to the mainland and Long Island reopened.

By late Tuesday afternoon, Sandy had forced airlines to cancel nearly 19,000 flights since Sunday, including at airports in Cleveland and Chicago. Some airlines resumed operations at airports in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston by late Tuesday, while others waited for Wednesday.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said Tuesday night that Newark and Kennedy airports would reopen at 7 a.m. Wednesday for limited service, while LaGuardia would remain closed. The authority did not say when LaGuardia could reopen, but officials still need to inspect damage to facilities and runways there from flooding.

Many of the thousands of stranded travelers might have to wait several days to resume their journeys. Carriers said they wouldn't be able to fly full schedules for days because airlines and airports must rely on transit systems in many storm-damaged cities to get employees to work.

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Kevin Kim has been trying to get home to New York from Portland, Ore., since Sunday. Initially, mechanical problems delayed his Delta flight. Since then, Delta has canceled three flights on Mr. Kim. On Tuesday, the 44-year-old computer programmer was still at his sister-in-law's Portland home. His wife weathered the storm at home alone, as their downtown Manhattan apartment building was flooded amid the storm surge.

Looking at Internet pictures of LaGuardia Airport, he said he doesn't expect to get home for a few days.

On the ground, public transit systems were shut down Tuesday across much of the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern seaboard. "It's historic,'' said Virginia Miller, spokeswoman for the American Public Transportation Association. Riders last year took nearly five billion trips on public systems in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Boston, New Jersey and greater New York City, she said, almost half the number of such trips taken in the entire U.S.

Amtrak suspended service along its heavily traveled Northeast corridor, which ferries about 750,000 daily riders on a typical workday. Trains will resume from Newark, N.J., to points south on Wednesday, and run limited New England service. No trains will run to New York.

New Jersey has closed its public mass-transit system indefinitely. "There is major damage on each and every one of New Jersey's rail lines," Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday.

The closure has broad consequences for the region. "That so many links in the system have been knocked out is, I believe, unprecedented,'' said Martin Pietrucha, director of Pennsylvania State University's Larson Institute, which studies transportation.

"New Jersey is a barrel on both ends," he said. "It's a place you go through on the way to somewhere else. From a transportation standpoint, you couldn't do a lot worse than take out New Jersey.''

Some transit systems were in better shape. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said it would restore limited rail service. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which provides mass transit in the Philadelphia region, resumed service on its subways, trolley lines and most bus routes. SEPTA, whose average weekday ridership is about 830,000, said it planned to restart commuter train service early Wednesday.

Portions of the Interstate 95 highway in New Jersey and Pennsylvania were closed to most traffic Monday and Tuesday. Pennsylvania reopened its stretch of the highway Tuesday afternoon. Motorists in the storm's footprint had to navigate detours on many roads past downed trees and through areas of flooding.

Authorities warned many roads, bridges and tunnels would remain closed for an extended time, creating trouble not only for commuters but also companies. Many firms maintain lean inventories and rely on efficient freight transport.

"The logistics and supply chain is not really designed so that it can stop. There's very little inventory, with just-in-time manufacturing," said Rich Barone, the principal research and policy planner for transportation at the Regional Plan Association. "It's susceptible to really being in a lot of pain, and we'll see empty shelves pretty quickly if the system isn't running again."

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